This invention relates to the art of bags and, more particularly, to a bag for packaging an edible food product and supporting the food product for eating.
It is of course well known that the primary packaging procedure with regard to sandwiches such as hamburgers, for example, in connection with a carry-out food service is to wrap the sandwich in a paper wrapper and to put the wrapped sandwich into a bag by which the customer carries the sandwich to a table or the like at which the customer sits and eats the sandwich. Often, the wrapper is removed and spread on the table and the sandwich is held by hand, whereby grease, mustard, ketchup, or other liquids on and in the sandwich drip onto the paper wrapper and/or onto the customer's hands. Sometimes, in an effort to avoid such dripping, the consumer will attempt to partially enclose the hamburger in the paper wrap. However, since the latter is basically a square, flat sheet of paper, manipulation thereof in an effort to relocate or expose portions of the hamburger to facilitate eating thereof results in the liquids leaking from the wrapper and, often, onto the hands and perhaps down the arms of the consumer.
Numerous bag constructions have been provided heretofore for the purpose of packaging products including food products and which bags are designed to facilitate access to the contents thereof. A number of such bag constructions are intended to be initially stapled, glued or otherwise sealed against access to the interior thereof and are provided with tear strips, rip cords and the like for accessing the interior. Such constructions are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,306,335 to Feigenbutz, U.S. Pat. No. 2,923,456 to Ryan and U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,863 to Vandenburg. The bags in the patents to Feigenbutz and Ryan are adapted to be sealed at the opposite ends thereof and are provided with tear strips which extend across a side panel of the bag and thence across both of the sealed ends thereof, whereby the bag is, in effect, longitudinally slit by pulling the tear strip from one sealed end across the other. In Vandenburg, the rip cord is provided in the sealed seam at one end of the bag or about the circumference of the bag intermediate the opposite ends thereof. In the latter construction, pulling on the rip cord separates the package into two pieces or, alternatively, into horizontally connected pouches. In either event, a pouch is provided for holding a food product to be eaten. Other bag constructions provided for packaging edible food products include a side panel which is severable from the remainder of the bag between open and closed ends thereof and extendable from the closed end so as to provide a tray on which the food products can be supported while being eaten. Such constructions are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,992 to Grotteria, U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,996 to Cortopassi, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,366 to Geddes, et al. Another construction in the form of a folded wrapper for holding a food product such as a taco while it is being eaten is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,259 to Cortopassi.